Lincoln is in his late-twenties and is kind of lost. He's still getting over his first love from high school, he lives with his mom, he has no direction, and he is making no effort to change his life. When he gets a job as IT security and starts policing the company's e-mails he discovers Jennifer and Beth, best friends whose gossip-y e-mails are entertaining and fun. Knowing that he's treading on questionably ethical ground, Lincoln continues to read their e-mails as he begins to fall for Beth.
This book is split between narration of Lincoln's life and the written e-mails between Jennifer and Beth. I have to admit, although I did enjoy it, it took me a little while before I found it delightful. Beth and Jennifer's conversations were immediately fun to read, but it took me a little while to warm up to Lincoln. His lack of...anything was frustrating. I wanted to be like his sister and tell him to do something with his life. I'm sure that some of my frustration stemmed from seeing myself in him, though. I can definitely get stuck in a rut when I'm not sure what I want and just waste time. I can also be less than sociable when I feel like it.
In fact, even my last job as an attorney reminded me of Lincoln. I was working on a giant civil fraud case where a group of us peon attorneys had to read the e-mail of an entire company. Now, these were company e-mails that were two to five years old. The people involved were in another state that we knew we would never meet, but the e-mails were still sometimes incredibly personal. Reading these e-mails was both voyeuristically interesting as we tried to deduce who was an asshole, who might be having an affair, who had a dark past, etc., but also somewhat disturbing as we delved into the lives of strangers.
Anyway, Lincoln grew on me as I learned more about him, and I was soon just as interested in his story as I was in Beth and Jennifer's lives. Rainbow Rowell is now one of my to-read authors. I'm looking forward to reading Eleanor & Park.
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